1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an improvement in automatic dispensing of stored bills, and more particularly the dispensing of only one bill at a time from a stack of bills with the assistance of a sorting device.
2. Background of the Invention
Examples of various forms of bill dispensing devices can be found, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,625,870, 4,795,889, and 5,553,320.
A compact banknote dispensing device is shown in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 54-49475. FIGS. 7 and 8 disclose features relevant to that reference. Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a stack of bills, such as banknotes B, can be supported at a dispensing station or base 505, and a mechanism can be used to bias the banknotes B for contact with a rotatable pickup roller 501. The banknote B is then directed to a feed roller 503 that can have a central groove 502. Fixed gate rollers 504 are positioned to be aligned within the concave grooves 502. When the banknote B is dispensed, the pickup roller 501 and the feed roller 503 cooperate to direct the banknote B in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in FIG. 7. The banknote B is drawn downward and is transported by the feed roller 503. A front surface of the banknote B is drawn by the feed roller 503, however, the rear surface is faced with a breaking action by the fixed gate rollers 504. The banknote B is dispensed by the feed roller 503. If accidentally, a pair of banknotes B are simultaneously released from the base of 505, the front banknote B which has contact with the feed roller 503 will be dispensed. However, the rear banknote which is in contact with the fixed gate roller 504 will be braked and held back so that only one banknote is dispensed.
This problem of duplication of banknotes sometime occurs, because banknotes B are forcibly transported between the feed roller 503 and the fixed gate roller 504. In order to increase the braking forces, the fixed gate roller 504 is located deep within the position of the concave groove 502 to prevent a dispensing of duplicate banknotes. In this arrangement, the friction which is produced from the fixed gate roller 504 on the banknote B becomes larger and helps to prevent the dispensing of a duplicate banknote B. A problem can occur, however, since a precise precision alignment and adjustment of the fixed gate rollers 504 can become difficult and requires substantial service time. Additionally, when the friction increases, the transporting speed of the banknote B will be correspondingly slowed down.
Thus, the prior art is still seeking to optimize a fast and efficient dispensing of banknotes while preventing erroneous duplication of banknotes in the dispensing operation.
The present invention is directed to a more efficient manner of separating stacked bills, and more particularly provides an apparatus for properly aligning bills and sorting duplicated bills that have been dispensed from a stack of bills.
A dispensing device for storing banknotes in a storage unit and for dispensing banknotes to a user through a discharge slot is provided with a transporting unit for transporting a banknote to be discharged from the stack of banknotes along a first passageway to a discharge slot. A monitor unit can be operatively positioned relative to the first passageway to monitor a condition of the transported banknote and to provide appropriate control signals. A diverting unit operatively connected to the monitoring unit can remove banknotes from the first passageway when the monitoring unit indicates at least a duplicated banknote has passed the monitoring unit. A second passageway can recycle the duplicated banknotes to a sorting device that can include a resistance guide unit to initially contact the duplicated banknotes and direct them to a rotatable driving roller having a higher friction surface that subsequently contacts the duplicated banknote to provide a separation of the duplicated banknotes. The resistance guide unit can be a pair of curved surfaces that sandwich the rotatable driving roller and can be eccentrically mounted on the same axis as the rotatable driving roller. The resistance guide unit can comprise larger diameter rollers that can be adjustably fixed about the rotatable driving roller. A second movable roller can contact the surface of the rotatable driving roller to form a nipping section which is downstream from the initial contact of the duplicate banknotes with the resistance guide unit.
An arraying device can bias a banknote for contact with a rotatable flexible roller that is driven through a friction clutch. The friction clutch is set to prevent any damage to the banknotes, while the flexible roller has a slanting surface to assist in directing and aligning the banknotes prior to introduction of the banknotes to the sorting device.